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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23478289">a return, but not to home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bioluminesce/pseuds/bioluminesce'>bioluminesce</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Double Drabble, F/M, Fic Journal of the Plague Year, Fluff, Post-Game(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:35:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23478289</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bioluminesce/pseuds/bioluminesce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aloy returned by the southern gate, and met Varl there. </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aloy/Varl (Horizon: Zero Dawn)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fic Journal of the Plague Year</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a return, but not to home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aloy returned by the southern gate, and met Varl there.</p><p>With many people still fortified inside the mountain, even to walk this far felt transgressive. They had even farther to go: down the creek below the homestead, along the narrow bridges. Near a fall of rock with climbing ropes still tied to what remained of the ruined face, they leaned against one another as bastions against the black-slick rocks. Varl caught her elbow and smiled.</p><p>At the western end of the valley they sat in the meadow, just outside the shadow of the airplane wreckage pinned between the canyon walls, and watched wild machines move in the rushes.<br/>
<br/>
After her long absence it had become easier for Aloy to say things to him, to hear them said back. When they embraced it was an expression of relief and comfort at the same time. She cupped the back of his neck and loved the warmth of his skin, the warmth of his cheek against hers. This place would not be home to her. But as they turned to watch the water, and she kissed the edge of his lips, it felt like the best resting-place she had seen for a while.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is an easy jaunt for Aloy’s birthday into a pairing I know is more popular than my main one, but the more I thought about it the more something clicked into place about it. This is the first drabble I finished after the stay-at-home suggestion became official in my state and a curfew went into place. Writing right now has been, overall, very hard. A lot of time in HZD I’m writing about Aloy’s distance from other people: an absent mother, a wide-open land with pockets of civilization, a romantic relationship that takes primarily over Focus-Skype. Changing that now has obvious appeal.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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